Welcome to

THE HOUSE
OF YAHSHUA

Hebrews 3:1-6

A New Covenant assembly which honors
the true name of the Son of God; observes God's
commandments, among them the seventh day Sabbath and His
annual Holy Days; and believes in the consistent, logical,
and non-contradictory nature of our God and His word.

Site last updated March 24, 2015

Month 1, Day 3

Yahweh:

"And in very deed for this [cause]
have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee My power; and
that My name may be declared throughout all the earth."
(Ex. 9:16)

Yahshua:

"Neither
is there salvation in any other: for there is none
other name under heaven given among men, whereby we
must be saved." (Acts 4:12)

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PASSOVER

Friday,
April 3rd, after sunset

Exodus
12:1-11

"And Yahweh spake unto
Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,

"This month [shall be]
unto you the beginning of months: it [shall
be] the first month of the year to you.

"Speak ye unto all the
congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth
[day] of this month they shall take to them
every man a lamb, according to the house of [their]
fathers, a lamb for an house:

"And if the household
be too little for the lamb, let him and his
neighbournext unto his house take [it]
according to the number of the souls; every
man according to his eating shall make your
count for the lamb.

"Your lamb shall be
without blemish, a male of the first year: ye
shall take [it] out from the sheep, or from
the goats:

"And ye shall keep it
up until the fourteenth day of the same month:
and the whole assembly of the congregation of
Israel shall kill it in the evening.

"And they shall take
of the blood, and strike [it] on the two side
posts and on the upper door post of the
houses, wherein they shall eat it.

"And they shall eat
the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and
unleavened bread; [and] with bitter [herbs]
they shall eat it.

"Eat not of it raw,
nor sodden at all with water, but roast [with]
fire; his head with his legs, and with the
purtenance thereof.

"And ye shall let
nothing of it remain until the morning; and
that which remaineth of it until the morning
ye shall burn with fire.

Is there
really a God? If there is, does it really matter what we
do or say in our worship of Him? What does it matter what
we do in this life, as long as we try to be good people?
Does it matter if we break God's laws...or do we have to
follow any laws at all? If there is no God, what does it
matter?

There is an
attitude flooding this world that gives rise to the questions
above. It seeks to appear righteous, Godly, and/or good while
denying everything our Creator has taught us about these
things. It denies the existence of God, then steals and warps
His words in order to justify a self-serving concept of right
and wrong. For anyone who has asked these questions and
wondered whether anything really matters where God is
concerned, here is the truth:

"If
there is no God, we have no hope."

If there is no God,
then life in this world is all we have to look forward to.
This should be a sobering, wretched realization for anyone
who chooses to believe that there is no God: it means that we
are doomed to exist only in this degenerate world, enduring
and inflicting all the wrongs of everyday life, and then our
lives are over. Permanently, for ever. There is no more hope,
no chance of redemption or forgiveness to be given or
accepted, no possibility of change or growth into something
new or better, no real reason for our existence at all. If in
this life we have only the goal of living our fourscore and
ten years until we die, then we above all other creatures are
to be pitied our existence.

If there is no God,
then it really doesn't matter what we do - whether for good
or evil - in this life, because there are no ultimate
consequences or rewards for our actions. If there is no God,
then we really have no guidance on how to live what is
generally considered to be a "good life" except the
consensus of our fellow beings, because the Bible is a total
fabrication of lies, not worth the paper wasted to print it.
If there is no God, then our actions are only governed by
expediency and our moral standards subject to change upon a
whim, as long as the whim makes us feel good about ourselves.

If there is no God,
then this life is only a prelude to death, and our every
action is only a step towards our goal of the grave,
regardless of what those actions might be. We may live lives
doing what we believe to be good works - with only our
feelings to tell us what is "good" - but in the end
we die and those "good works" are as if they had
never existed.

Alternately, we
may spend our lives on evil - whatever we perceive evil to be
without the benefit of God's laws to define it for us -
perhaps even escaping the civil penalties of our evil, and
when we die those evil deeds die with us: no justice meted,
no need to ask for or accept forgiveness, no ultimate
responsibility. Nothing but the oblivion from which we sprang.

If there is no God,
then we are born to eat, drink, breathe, excrete, have sex,
and die. Everything else is just meaningless details. If
there is no God, we have no hope.

However, if there is
a God, then things change and change drastically. In place of
an ever-changing morality guided by expediency and good
feelings, we have a set of rules and standards which can not
only guide us and give us an objective goal of goodness to
strive for, they can also serve as a tool to bring us closer
to our Creator, helping us to understand His mind and His
plans for mankind in general. In addition, we have clear
definitions of what is "evil", how to avoid it, and
what we can do to mitigate our evil actions - how to overcome
evil and erase what evil we might do in order to continue
striving for the good. With a living God we have something to
hope for beyond this physical life and its actions: we can
hope to become better and wiser beings as we learn the
lessons in this life that we will need to move on to the next
existence after death. We have the hope of a subsequent,
greater existence; and death becomes simply a step in our
Creator's plan for us: it become not an end, but a new
beginning.

If there is a God,
then we must accept that human beings do not make the rules
we are to live by and that there are consequences for our
actions when we go against the rules set out for us by our
Creator. We must accept that there are absolutes of right and
wrong given to us by that living God, and the fact that we
might disagree with them does not negate them. With a living
God we must accept and abide by His rules in order to receive
the rewards He offers: we cannot override God and receive
greater rewards by accepting and condoning in the name of
"christianity" or "forgiveness" or "righteousness"
behaviour He has clearly marked as evil. In doing so, we
partake of the very sins we are attempting to marginalize in
others.

If there is a God,
then we must also accept that human beings are held
accountable for the sins they commit - sins as defined by God,
not man - just as they are rewarded for the righteousness
they do, and this righteousness is defined by God as well. It
may make people feel good to march in a gay pride parade or
picket during the execution of a murderer or rapist in the
name of religion, but if there is a God then one thing is
certain: Our Father does not condone these things, and He
will require it in the end as evil committed, not good. To
claim to believe that there is a God, and then to disregard
the laws that He gave us in order to justify living an un-Godly
lifestyle is direct disobedience to His will
and is the most widespread and greatest religious hypocrisy
this world has ever witnessed.

What does it
matter? It matters very much if you hope that your life will
mean something more than the life of any other animal that
has ever existed in this world, for if there is no God then
that is exactly what we are: animals - born to live, struggle,
and then die, leaving nothing behind but a rotting carcase.
The only hope we have is that there is a God,
righteous, just, merciful, loving, and forgiving, who has
created our lives and provided us with His laws for a purpose;
a God who sent us His Son to give us a way past death,
relegating death to the transition it is meant to be; a God
who intends mankind follow His laws and benefit from this
physical existence in order to gain something greater, more
meaningful, and more lasting after we die. If there is
a God, everything matters.

"If
in this life only we have hope in the Christ, we are
of all people most miserable.
But now is the Messiah risen from the dead, the
firstfruits of them that slept...
O death, where [is] thy sting? O death, where [is]
thy victory?
The sting of death [is] sin; and the strength of sin
[is] the law.
But thanks [be] to God, Which giveth us the victory
through our Lord Yahshua the Christ."

AND GOD SPAKE ALL THESE WORDS,
SAYING,

I [am] Yahweh thy
God, which have brought thee out of the land of
Egypt, out of the house of bondage,

Thou shalt have no
other gods before Me.

Thou shalt not make
unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of
any thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is]
in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water
under the earth:

Thou shalt not bow
down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I
Yahweh thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto
the third and fourth [generation] of them that
hate Me;

And shewing mercy
unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My
commandments.

Thou shalt not
consider the name of Yahweh thy God to be a vain
thing: for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless
that considers His name meaningless.

How many times have you heard or read the
following, whether from scientists, practicing homosexuals,
or practicing christians?:

"God doesn't hate homosexuals, He
hates homosexuality."

"Certain people are genetically
inclined towards homosexuality. God can't blame them for
being gay because they're born that way."

"Christians should love the sinner and
hate the sin."

Homosexuality in the past 30 years has gone
from being considered a dirty secret involving deviant sex to
an in-your-face declaration of self-identity and pride: from
demands that the concept of marriage be legally altered to
include same-sex couples to gay pride parades, every aspect
of modern society has been affected by homosexuality "coming
out of the closet." This trend has even reached into
churches and up to the pulpit, with ministers preaching
tolerance of homosexuality, urging a message of "love,
not hate", and practicing homosexuals being ordained
into the ministry.

What does the Bible really say about God and
homosexuality?

To begin with, the term "gay" is a
misnomer which deflects attention away from the true subject:
in Scripture the word used to describe homosexuals is "sodomite".
This term arises from the events which occurred in Genesis 18
and 19 - as Yahweh sits with Abraham in the plains of Mamre,
He reveals to Abrahim His intent:

"And Yahweh said, Because the
cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their
sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see
whether they have done altogether according to the
cry of it, which is come unto Me; and if not, I will
know." (Gen. 18:20-21)

Abraham, obviously familiar with Sodom and
the actions of its inhabitants and knowing the Yahweh's
punishment for these actions, immediately attempts to
intercede for whatever righteous people might reside in that
city. Ultimately Yahweh agrees to spare the city for "ten's
sake."

However, we see in chapter 19 that when
Yahweh's angels reach Sodom, the men of the city, "both
old and young, all the people from every quarter", go to
Lot's door and demand of him, "Where [are] the men which
came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we
may know them." The word "know" here means to
have carnal knowledge of them - to have sex with them.
Apparently they were either anticipating an orgy or a gang
rape. In this instance we see a society so warped and twisted
by sin that Lot's response is to offer hisvirgin
daughters to these men rather than allow them access
to the angels. The Sodomites' reaction? To refuse the women,
threaten Lot with worse than what they had in mind for the
angels, and move to break down the door.

As we all know, both Sodom and Gomorrah ended
up as piles of smoking ash, which clearly reveals to us
Yahweh's attitude towards homosexuality and sin. The city of
Sodom, with a population estimated at up to 1,200 at the time,
could not produce 10 righteous people and was therefore
destroyed. We also see that the rest of Lot's family perished
along with the rest of the city; though perhaps not
homosexuals themselves (since two were sons-in-law married to
two of Lot's daughters), they were obviously tolerant of such
behaviour at least and willing to remain entrenched in it.
This better defines for us Yahweh's attitude towards
righteousness and punishment - those who condone or tolerate
the sinfulness of homosexuality are obviously not considered
righteous and reap the same punishment as the homosexuals
themselves.

Now that the identity and sin of sodomites is
Scripturally clear, we can look through the Bible to find out
Yahweh's consistent attitude towards them:

Deut. 23:17: "There
shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite
of the sons of Israel."

1 Kings 14:24: "And
there were also sodomites in the land: [and] they did
according to all the abominations of the nations which Yahweh
cast out before the children of Israel."

1 Kings 15:11-12: "And
Asa did [that which was] right in the eyes of Yahweh, as [did]
David his father. And he took away the sodomites out of the
land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made."

I Kings 22:45-46: "Now
the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he
shewed, and how he warred, [are] they not written in the book
of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And the remnant of
the sodomites, which remained in the days of his father Asa,
he took out of the land."

2 Kings 23:7: "And he (King
Josiah) brake down the houses of the sodomites, that [were]
by the house of Yahweh, where the women wove hangings for the
grove."

There are other less clear references to
homosexuals in the Old Testament, such as Deut. 23:18, etc.,
but the direct references given here establish all too
clearly two things: how Yahweh felt about sodomites and
whether He or His righteous people tolerated them.

Now, there are those who say that the Old
Testament was done away with in the New and that tolerance is
the watchword for Christians. Where homosexuality is
concerned, we can go passages in the New Testament which
speak about this lifestyle and learn whether the Old
Testament's condemnation of it is done away with, or whether
it is upheld:

Romans 1:26-28: "For
this cause God gave them up unto vile
affections: for even their women did change the natural use
into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men,
leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust
one toward another; men with men working that which is
unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of
their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to
retain God in [their] knowledge, God gave them over
to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not
convenient..."

We see here women included in the same
context, informing us that lesbians are included with
sodomites in God's judgments. We also see a clear
condemnation of women with women and men with men, and as God
is unchanging, we can safely say that since His condemnation
of the behaviour remains, so does His punishment.

I Timothy 1:9-10: "Knowing
this, that the law is not made for a righteous one, but for
the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners,
for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and
murderers of mothers, for manslayers, For whoremongers, for
them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers,
for liars, for perjured persons, and if any other thing is
contrary to sound doctrine..."

The arguments against all three of the above
cited scriptures are weak, filled with self-justification and
rebellion against God's own clearly stated abhorrence for
homosexuality. Some arguments appeal to the non-use of the
actual word "homosexual" - even though that actual
word is not used in the Old Testament, either; and the
existence of "only three" anti-homosexual passages.
The second argument is especially pitiable, since it not only
ignores the fact that those three only uphold those in the
Old Testament, but it also assumes that God must tell not to
do something over and over again continually in order for us
to have to obey Him.

The simplistic argument that God only hates
homosexuality, not homosexuals, flies in the face of the fact
that God has clearly stated that He hates those who
practice sin. Ps. 11:15 - "The LORD trieth the
righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence His
soul hateth." He makes no difference between the person
and their actions:

"The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father,
neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son:
the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and
the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

"But if the wicked will turn from
all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all My
statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall
surely live, he shall not die.

"All his transgressions that he
hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in
his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.

"Have I any pleasure at all that
the wicked should die? Saith the Lord Yahweh: [and] not
that he should return from his ways, and live?" (Ezekiel
18:20-23)

Ist is our actions which constitute sin, and
to blame God for homosexuality is the same as blaming Him for
murder, fornication, or envy - homosexuality is an
action, a human choice of lifestyle, not a physical
fact like race, gender, or height. To escape the punishment
for homosexuality, one only has to refrain from the action,
not cease existing as a person.

Finally, to tolerate and embrace
homosexuality, even if you are not homosexual, is to bring
upon yourself the same judgment God places upon any
practicing homosexual. Would we embrace and tolerate
practicing murderers? active rapists? working thieves? serial
adulterers? predatory child molesters?

Yes, sad to say, perhaps we would in this
world of decaying morals and rebellion against God. But
ignoring God's word does not negate His word - our God
continues and Psalms 15:4 tells us He does not change, nor
does His judgment. Sin is an action, a human choice to ignore
God's laws and commandments, and the soul that sins reaps
death. We do homosexuals no favors by condoning or tolerating
them, we only help them pave the way to their graves and God's
judgment.

Israel's entry into Canaan was delayed for a
spell because "the iniquity of the Amorites [was] not
yet full." Once they were brought into the land, they
were told,

"When Yahweh thy God shall bring thee
into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast
out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the
Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the
Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations
greater and mightier than thou; And when Yahweh thy God shall
deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, [and]
utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them,
nor shew mercy unto them..."

These are the same people referred to in 1
Kings 14:24:

"And there were also sodomites in the
land: [and] they did according to all the
abominations of the nations which Yahweh cast out
before the children of Israel."

Homosexuality is an abomination before God,
abhorred by Him, and those who practice it are in rebellion
against God's word, living in a continual state of sin. Make
no mistake about it, this is not a lifestyle which should be
embraced, condoned, or tolerated, lest we end up partaking of
its condemnation. Loving the sinner while hating the sin will
not prevent a practicing homosexual's death sentence, but it
may bring on yours.

THE WORD OF
THE WATCHMAN

"...Go, get thee unto the house of
Israel, and speak with My words to them. For thou art not
sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language,
but to the house of Israel; Not to many people of a strange
speech and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not
understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have
hearkened unto thee.

"And go, get thee to them of the
captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto
them, and tell them, 'Thus saith the Lord Yahweh'; whether
they hear or whether they will forbear.

"Son of man, I have made thee a
watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at
My mouth, and give them warning from Me." (Eze. 3:4-6,
11, 17)

This
is the word of the watchman:

Awake, awake! The day of Yahweh is
fast approaching. This day is a day of furious anger, a day
of trouble and distress, a day of storm and desolation, a day
of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick
darkness. It is a day of the trumpet and alarm against the
defended cities, and against the high towers. And I, Yahweh,
will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind
men, because they have sinned against Yahweh; and their blood
shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as excrement.
Neither their lesser nor their greater idols shall be able to
save them in the day of Yahweh's furious anger; but the whole
land shall be eaten up by the fire of His jealousy; for He
shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in
the land.

Awake, all who read these words! The day of
our God's judgment is at hand. Look around you at the world
you live in. Look at your city, your state, your country,
your government - look at your neighbors and close friends.
Look at the newspapers and television. Open your eyes to the
sin and corruption running rampant in the world today. See
how mankind has transgressed against God's commandments and
brought judgment upon themselves.

The watchman's task is to tell God's people
and the world their sins, so that they might recognize their
doom and turn from it. Look at everything occurring in the
world today. Homosexuals brazenly and stridently petition to
partake of the God-given ceremony of marriage even as they
defy His condemnation of homosexuality. Mothers and fathers
murder their children in their own beds. Religious leaders
shamelessly give their support and sanction to murderers,
child molesters, active homosexuals, bigots, and racist
causes. Millions around the world proclaim their belief in
God while existing in a state of abysmal ignorance of even
the simplest of His laws. Adultery and fornication are more
common than marriage, and one half of all marriages end in
divorce. Helpless prisoners are tortured in the name of
democracy. Murders walk free in the streets with innocent
blood on their hands.

The world around us is filled with corruption
and sin - a single glance at any news source reveals the
evils of this generation. Governments attack and murder their
own citizens. Around the world people are abused and murdered
in the name of Jesus, Allah, Mother Earth, Satan, and every
other deity imaginable. Drug use soars and addicts prey on
family and friends in order to support their habits.
Government officials, law enforcement agencies, and courts of
law unite to oppress and enslave citizens through
intimidation and unjust application of unrighteous laws. In
the name of anti-terrorism, human rights and freedoms are
trampled on and destroyed. Every form of paganism and
idolatry is encouraged while unwavering devotion to God's
truth is labeled dangerous fanaticism. No matter where we
look, sin abounds.

Throughout the Old Testament Yahweh's laws
were clearly stated. Our Creator God gave us His laws,
statutes, and judgments, and then, amazingly, He was gracious
enough to reveal the just reasoning behind many of those laws.
With the most righteous laws ever to exist given into our
hands, along with the reasoning behind those laws, mankind
has gone on to twist and ignore those laws in favor of their
own will. Christianity and Judaism in particular have done
exactly what God warned against - in an effort to show how
much more righteous they are than their Creator, they have
supplanted His laws with their own traditions. How often has
this resulted in those "righteous" people doing
exactly what God commanded them not to do: they have wrested
justice, calling that which is right wrong and that which is
wrong right, and they have tolerated and even encouraged
behaviour which is clearly condemned by God.

Everywhere we look today we find predictions
of the end of the world or the end of the human race or the
end of civilization as we know it. These predictions hang on
a multitude of causes: global warming, political unrest,
asteroids from outer space, terrorism, a coming ice age,
nuclear holocaust - the list goes on and on. When we examine
all of these causes, however, we discover one glaring fact:
All of these predicted catastrophes arise from natural events
due to either human mismanagement of natural resources or an
evolutionary cycle of balance and imbalance; or they arise
from socio-political conflict between different countries,
governments, or religions. Every one of these predictions
totally ignores God and the disregard of His laws as a cause
of the coming cataclysm.

Even more distressing is the fact that in
each of these scenarios, we find one of two outcomes: either
mankind - completely apart from God - saves itself through
its own determination and ingenuity; or mankind is simply
extinguished, falling prey to the evolutionary cycle in favor
of a more hardy species: plants, reptiles, microbes, etc.
Nowhere do we find the concept of God interposing Himself in
these events, stepping in as the one and only salvation of
His created offspring.

Look to Scripture to find the truth of the
cause of this world's destruction: "Why criest thou for
thine affliction? Thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude
of thine iniquity: because thy sins were increased, I
have done these things unto thee" (Jer. 30:15).
"Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord Yahweh unto
the land of Israel; An end is come upon the four corners of
the land. Now is the end come upon thee, and I will
send Mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee
according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all
thine abominations. And Mine eye shall not
spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I
will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations
shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I AM
Yahweh" (Eze. 7:2-4). "Ye have plowed wickedness,
ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies:
because thou didst trust in thy way...therefore shall a
tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall
be spoiled..." (Hos. 10:13-14).

And even as we know that God Himself is the
cause of the coming destruction, we know also that He is our
only hope of salvation from that destruction. "And I
will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and
fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned to
darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the
terrible day of Yahweh come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever
shall call on the name of Yahweh shall be delivered:
for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as
Yahweh hath said, and in the remnant whom Yahweh shall call"
(Joel 2:30-32). "...Hurt not the earth, neither the sea,
nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in
their foreheads" (Rev. 7:3). "And Yahweh shall be
seen over them, and His arrow shall go forth as the lightning...Yahweh
of Hosts shall defend them: and they shall devour,
and subdue with sling stones...And Yahweh their God
shall save them in that day as the flock of His people...How
great is His goodness, and how great is His beauty!" (Zech.
9:14-17)

Wake up, my beloved brothers! The time is now
for people everywhere to understand some basic truths, the
most primary of which is this: Throughout history, God has
intervened in human events for two reasons. The first reason
God intervenes is because of the sinfulness of mankind:
"And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the
earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of
his heart was only evil continually. And it repented
Yahweh that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him
at His heart. And Yahweh said, 'I will
destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth...'"
(Gen. 6:5-7), and "But in the fourth generation they
shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the
Amorites is not yet full" (Gen 15:16), and
"And Yahweh said, 'Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah
is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
I will go down now, and see whether they have done according
to the cry of it, which is come unto Me...'" (Gen. 18:20-21),
and "But they rebelled, and vexed His holy
Spirit: therefore He was turned to be their enemy,
and He fought against them" (Is. 63:10). We see
very clearly that our God intervenes, even to the point of
becoming an enemy of mankind, when the their sins become
unbearable to Him.

The second reason we find our Creator
intervening for is to prevent the total extermination of
mankind: "Thus saith Yahweh, 'As the new wine is
found in the cluster, and one saith, 'Destroy it not;
for a blessing is in it;' so will I do for My
servants sakes, that I may not destroy them all'"
(Is 65:8), and "Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith
Yahweh: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all
the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will
not make a full end of thee..." (Jer. 46:28),
and "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was
not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, or
ever shall be. And except those days be shortened, there
should no flesh be saved; but for the elect's sake
those days shall be shortened" (Matt. 24:21-22). We see
here that no matter what the transgressions of mankind in
general, our God will always intervene in order to save those
people who cleave unto Him and His truth.

The word of the watchman is clear: Awake, you
sons of man, from your transgressions against God's laws, in
order that you might receive the blessings of His mercy in
the days of His judgment. The end of this world comes not
because of random natural disaster or because of mankind has
brought itself to the brink of destruction. The end of this
world comes because mankind has transgressed the laws of our
Creator God: our hope lies not in the indomitable spirit of
mankind, but in the gracious Spirit of our Father who will
shorten the days of our tribulation in order that a remnant
of His people might survive.

"Seek ye Yahweh, all ye meek
of the earth, which have wrought His judgment; seek
righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in
the day of Yahweh's anger." (Zeph. 2:3)

JUDGING GOD

How many of us
have been in discussion with a friend or acquaintance, and
heard the conversation go something like this:

"If homosexuals
are born that way, how can God condemn them?"

"If it's wrong
to kill people, then why does the Bible tell us to execute
murderers?"

"Marriage is
just a civil agreement between two people, so why does God say
divorce is morally wrong?"

"If there is a
God, why does He allow all the suffering in this world?"

The examples could
go on endlessly: people form their opinions about life and
death, how to worship God, how to interact with their fellow
man, etc., and then go on to criticize God because His rules
and actions don't agree with their opinions. As time
progresses and this world races toward its final meeting with
our Creator, it seems that mankind is determined to deny,
nullify, and condemn everything upon which the majority of
people claim to base their faith. The question is: How much
will God tolerate when mankind presumes to judge Him?

We find examples
in Scripture of men and women disbelieving, disagreeing with,
judging, and criticizing God and His emissaries. Even in the
beginning, Adam and Eve chose to disbelieve and disobey
Yahweh's warning concerning eating of tree which He commanded
them to refrain from. We know the punishment for this was
dire, as it condemned not only Adam and Eve, but the whole
human race to toil, sorrow, and eventual physical death. In
this example, we find a common theme for events in the rest
of Scripture and in human reasoning: Although Yahweh clearly
ordered Adam and Eve not to eat of this tree, explaining the
punishment for disobedience, He did not enter into a detailed
explanation of why this tree wasn't good to eat. When the
serpent entered in and offered a plausible (human) motivation
for God's actions, Adam and Eve accepted it as justification
for disobeying their Creator. Rather than trusting Yahweh and
accepting His commandment in this case, they chose instead to
invoke their own flawed reasoning under Satan's urging in
order to do what they wishedto do all
along.

If we examine many
people's arguments against God, we often find among their
motivations some personal agenda which will suffer if they
accept God's rules. People who judge God's condemnation of
homosexuals are usually associating with one or more people
who cling to this lifestyle where it would inconvenience them
to reject and condemn this lifestyle, perhaps costing them a
relationship or even money. People who argue against God's
condemnation of divorce are usually either divorced
themselves or related to someone divorced. Those who bewail
the suffering which "God allows" in this world are
not only suffering themselves, but are almost certainly
living their lives in total denial of His laws, statutes, and
judgments: they hate the suffering, but they hate even more
the restrictions they would have to submit to in order to
ease their suffering. Opponents of the death penalty thrive
on their self-righteous claim to love human life
indiscriminately, but they reject the righteous concept of
justice for those whose lives have been taken.

We see this
pattern played out again and again in Scripture - people
would rather justify themselves than justify their God. If we
look to the case of Job and his friends, we find this fact
demonstrated very clearly. Throughout Job's discourse with
his friends, he continually justifies himself, even to the
point of saying, "Oh that One would hear me! behold, my
desire [is that] the Almighty would answer me, and [that] mine
adversary had written a book." (Job. 31:35)
This man has sunk to the level of calling God his adversary!
We know that this is true, because 32:1 tells us that the
three friends stopped talking to him because Job "[was]
righteous in his own eyes" - more righteous even than
God!

Finally Elihu -
literally, "He is God" - appears on the scene,
tells Job, "Behold, I [am] according to thy wish in God's
stead..." (33:6), and proceeds to harshly rebuke Job for
his attitude and words. "Behold, [in] this thou art not
just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man."
(33:12) Elihu goes on to say, "Yea, surely God will not
do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert judgment,"
(34:12), and "Thinkest thou this to be right, [that]
thou saidst, My righteousness [is] more than God's?" (35:2).
Elihu cuts to the heart of the matter with these words: so
many people believe that they know more than God, that their
judgment is more righteous than God's, that their generosity
and mercy are greater than God's, and that therefore God is
somehow wicked and they are so very righteous. It is this
attitude which is destroying our morals and our world today.

So many other
examples exist in Scripture which demonstrate this attitude
of rebellion and superiority: Sarah's laughter and disbelief
as she hid behind the door listening to Yahweh assure Abraham
that he and Sarah would be blessed with a son (Gen. 18:9-15);
Abraham's false belief that he could save Sodom and Gomorrah
where God could not, by lowering to ten the number of
righteous souls to be found in those cities for their
salvation (Gen 18:20-33); the rebellion and disbelief of the
ten spies after they had searched out Canaan, and then the
subsequent rebellion of all Israel as they disobeyed Yahweh's
order and went up into the land without His blessing (Num. 13
& 14); the presumption of the sons of Korah, who
proclaimed their own holiness in defiance of Yahweh's
selection of Moses and Aaron as His agents (Num. 16); Saul's
disobedience of Yahweh's orders to utterly defeat the
Amalekites and refuse their spoil (I Sam. 15:1-26); the self-righteousness
and multiple offenses of those who condemned Yahshua for
healing a man on the Sabbath (Matt. 12:10-14; Mark 3:1-6; etc.);
the list could go on and on.

In searching these
examples, we find different levels of punishment for these
transgressions - in Sarah's case, there was a simple rebuke;
in Abraham's case Yahweh withheld rebuke and even allowed
some bargaining to go on; with the Israelites and the sons of
Korah, death was the penalty exacted; and with Saul there was
the loss of his position as king of Israel. From each context
it becomes clear that while Yahweh will countenance mistakes
and false assumptions when they spring from an underlying
foundation of faith and obedience, He will not tolerate
rebellion and disobedience when their motivation is disbelief
and self-aggrandizement.

If this is true,
then our world is positioned to encounter the very harshest
punishment possible upon Yahshua's return: we wantonly
criticize God's rules, statutes, judgment, laws, and commands
because they encroach on our desires; we exalt ourselves over
God by claiming our greater justice, understanding,
righteousness, or mercy; we condemn the principles dictated
by Him as too rigorous, too fanatical, too fundamentalist, or
too extreme while substituting nothing besides "do what
feels right" to guide ourselves through life; we ignore
His rules and then cry because He refuses to intervene and
save us from ourselves, thereby allowing our actions to cause
all of the suffering that disturbs us so; we tolerate every
deviant behaviour possible, making excuses for this behaviour
and condemning God for setting standards for deviance in the
first place; we refuse His mercy because of the requirements
that would ensue if we accepted - then we complain that God
is ignoring us. All of this springs from hearts hardened into
cement by selfishness, cruelty, childish egoism, and simple
rebellion against God's authority.

Scripture tells us
clearly what happens when we reject or bypass God and do what
is right in our own eyes: if we read the book of Judges, we
see a nation falling into moral destruction and terminal
sinfulness and reaping the consequences of such a culture.
Even when God intervenes and sends a judge/saviour, after
several have come and gone we begin to realize that the
people are reprieved only as long as any one judge is in
place: once the judge departs, the people are incapable of
continuing on their own and immediately fall back into the
moral quagmire they've created for themselves.

Judging God is
more than risky business - it can be a deadly business. Job's
example tells us that we can escape from this error only by
self-examination and heartfelt repentance, something this
world is in dire need of. When we read prophecy which tells
us of the coming judgment and punishment of mankind, we can
know for sure that what is bringing this judgment upon us is
our blind willingness to judge and condemn the One who
created us and this world in the first place. Now is the time
to stop judging God, and exalt Him instead: only when we
first justify our Creator can we then justify ourselves
before Him and perhaps save ourselves from the punishment to
come.

In past
years many of us in Yahshua's family have lost family members
and friends, and in many cases these losses have only added
to similar losses we've already sustained. In addition, some
of us have been left alone and without any way to truly mourn
or honor those we loved so well. In an effort to address this
situation, provide a means to honor our beloved dead, and
perhaps ease the pain of our losses, the House of Yahshua has
created this memorial section, which will be be added to and
preserved indefinitely. We remember here the family and
friends no longer with us, honoring their memories and
celebrating their lives:

Jeannine
T. Touchton

Mary
Stollings

Paul
Griffin Amman

Anita
Amman

Bennie
Amman

Bob
Samm

Legett
Nash

Jason
Wright

Jonathan
Wagner

Tony
Owens

Mattie
George

Edith
Weddle

Thelma
Nanney

James
Nanney

Marie
Moore

Dr.
& Elder Alex D. Ratnam

Mr.
Y. D. David

Mrs.
Deena David

Glenn
Ross

R.
P. Touchton

Preston
David Touchton, Sr.

Billie
Ross

Earl
Stollings

"The righteous perisheth, and no man
layeth [it] to heart: and merciful men [are] taken away,
none considering that the righteous is taken away from
the evil [to come]. He shall enter into peace: they shall
rest in their beds, [each one] walking [in] his
uprightness." (Isa. 57:1-2)

Never Forgotten

THE TRUTH IS...

In John 18:38,
Pontius Pilate asked Yahshua, "What is truth?"
Earlier Yahshua Himself said, "Thy word is truth" (John
17:17). Unbeliever that he was, Pilate couldn't know that he
was speaking to the Word of God made flesh (John 1:14) when
he asked that question - in effect, Pilate was speaking to
the embodiment of truth, a fact which escaped him.

In addition to the
fleshly Word, who was available to the world for only about
33 1/2 years, we have the enduring word of Scripture - a
spiritual testimony breathed by God Himself in order for us
to learn about Him, His will for us, and how to live our
lives in a manner pleasing to Him. Authorities say that the
Bible is the book most widely purchased and most seldom read.
Even among those who read and study this Book faithfully,
there are points of truth and facts contained in it which may
have escaped them. A few of those points, and some practical
observations and Scriptural facts, are offered here.

The
seventh day Sabbath was instituted in Genesis 2:2-3 by
the fiat of God, with no mention of any relationship to
the sun, moon, or any other physical phenomenon or point
of reference. This God-given seven day cycle is
reinforced in Exodus 20:8-11, again with no mention of
any point of reference besides Yahweh's six days of
creation and one day of rest. Again, it is reinforced in
Exodus 31:14-17 only with reference to the Creation week;
likewise in Hebrews 4:4. Our Creator
is the only point of reference for His sanctified Sabbath,
not any heavenly body or any other part of His creation.

Homosexuality is rebellion against two of
the earliest ordinances concerning mankind and marriage:

The first is "Be fruitful, and
multiply, and replenish the earth..." (Gen. 1:28).
Ironically, homosexuals, by the very nature of their
chosen lifestyle and in spite of their rejection of
Yahweh's laws, cannot reproduce without using methods
that force them to submit themselves to the laws of
nature which God created, thereby submitting them to
God Himself.

The second is "Therefore a man
shall leave his father and his mother, and shall
cleave unto his wife..." There is no provision
here for a man cleaving unto his boyfriend.

In
Numbers 3:28, the males of Kohath are numbered at 8,300 -
which when added to the other Levite males yields 22,300
rather than the 22,000 recorded in verse 39. According to
Wycliffe's Bible Commentary, this is due to a scribal
error, where one letter was omitted: sh-sh (six hundred)
written instead of sh-l-sh (three hundred).

While
many people claim that Eliyah was caught up by a
whirlwind to God's throne in heaven, "translated"
and never seeing death, this is impossible. Besides the
clear Scriptural testimony that "no man has
ascended to heaven, except He that came down from heaven",
there is the simple fact that Eliyah wrote a letter to
King Jehoram (II Chron 21:12) somewhere between five and
ten years after his disappearance, a letter we can safely
presume was sent from somewhere on earth and not from
Paradise.

In
the Old Testament, all offerings presented to Yahweh were
to be unleavened - Lev. 2:11 - however, the two wave
loaves offered at Pentecost (Lev. 23:17) were offered with
leaven. Leaven is the classic Scriptural symbol for sin,
which explains why Yahweh's offerings were to be leaven-free,
but the wave loaves were offered with leaven
because they represent the firstfruits redeemed from
among mankind (Acts 2:41, etc). Mankind, being fleshly or
"carnal", is weak and naturally at odds with
God (Rom. 8:7), co-existing with sin in spite of our best
efforts (Rom. 7:17-19). It is only through our spiritual
redemption and conversion through Yahshua that we present
ourselves to God in spite of the "body of death"
(Rom. 7:24-25) in which we exist: hence, the symbolism of
the wave loaves - a type of firstfruit acceptable to God
in spite of being leavened.

In
Revelation 17, the "great whore" of verse one
is identified in verse 18 as that "great city"
- a term used to identify Jerusalem in ch. 11:8: "And
their dead bodies [shall lie] in the street of the great
city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where
also our Lord was crucified", as well as in ch. 21:10
- "And he carried me away in the spirit to a great
and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the
holy Jerusalem..."

If we
follow the trail of references from Exodus 12:12 to
Exodus 12:27 to Exodus 13:2 and 11-15 to Numbers 3:12-13;
we find that Yahweh redeemed the deaths of the firstborn
of Egypt by claiming for Himself the firstborn of Israel,
whom He subsequently traded for the tribe of Levi. If we
understand that the Passover lamb was slain - not as a
sin sacrifice, but in order to save the lives of the
firstborn of Israel - we then see that Passover was the
beginning of a process by which Yahweh purchased to
Himself a physical priesthood from His chosen physical
nation. In like manner, when Yahshua instituted the New
Covenant at Passover in the New Testament, He set in
motion a process by which He began to create for Himself
a new priesthood, this time spiritual (1 Peter 1:5, 9),
from all those He has chosen out of the world to become
His spiritual people.

The
name "Yahweh" appears from Genesis 2:4 through
Genesis 39:23 some 158 times, an average of more than 4
occurrences per chapter in 38 chapters. The name appears
only once in the remaining eleven chapters from Genesis
40:1 through Genesis 50:26. The next occurrence of the
name Yahweh is three chapters into the next book, in
Exodus 3:2. The first time that name is spoken by a human
being in Exodus is in Ex. 4:1, by Moses.

The
"Old Covenant" - the covenant made with the
children of Israel, mediated by Moses at Mount Sinai in
Exodus 19:24 thru 24:8, and sealed with blood - had
nothing to do with the "Levitical law" or
"Levitical priesthood". A careful reading of
this covenant will show no mention of the Levites or many
of the laws commonly perceived as Levitical laws - i.e.
ritual washings, specific sacrificial laws, purification
rules, etc. The Sinai covenant was made in the third
month after the exodus (Ex. 19:1), while the tribe of
Levi was first formally spoken of as separated for
service to Yahweh in Numbers 1:49-53 on or after the
first day of the second month in the second year after
the exodus (Num. 1:1) - well after the Sinai covenant was
instituted. (Even the early reference in Exodus 38:21 is
a forward looking reference to the passage in Numbers.)
In truth, the Old Covenant was as personal and non-ritualistic
as was Yahweh's first covenant with Abraham, which was
made with him before the ritual of circumcision was
introduced (Rom. 4:9-10), and was just as personal as the
New Covenant is now.

The
word rendered "wormwood" in Rev. 8:11 is the
Greek word "apsinthos", the equivalent of
"absinthe" in English. Derived from the plant Artemesia
absinthium, wormwood liqueur (absinthe) is a bitter,
emerald green, addictive drug. Absinthe has been outlawed
in many countries due to the fact that it is
hallucinogenic and toxic.

The
Hebrew word for atonement, as in the Day of Atonement, is
kippur - Strong's #3725 - meaning expiation. It comes
from Strong's #3722, which reads "kaphar: a
primitive root; to cover". With the
understanding that blood is given to us for a covering (Lev.
17:11), we realize that our Saviour's blood was shed as a
covering for the sins of His people in order to reconcile
them to Himself. It is because of this covering that our
Father, who cannot look upon evil (Hab. 1:13), is able to
turn His face to us and regard us as we strive to obey
His words and live according to His will.

The
Levitical priesthood of the Old Testament consisted of
the all the male descendants of Levi, who was one of the
sons of Jacob (Gen. 29:34; Num. 3:12). This tribe became
the priests who performed the sacrifices and services
within the tabernacle and the temple. The "sons of
Aaron" were the descendants of Aaron, who was a
member of the tribe of Levi (Ex. 4:14): it is this family
of Aaron that directly served Yahweh as the high priests
of Israel, primarily because of the actions of Aaron's
son Phinehas in Number 25. While all sons of Aaron were
Levites, not all Levites were sons of Aaron, and the
duties of each group were widely and specifically
different. In Ezekiel it is the descendents of Phineas -
the "sons of Zadok" (1 Chron. 6:4-12) - who
continue the direct service to Yahweh (Ez. 44:15-16, 23-24;
etc.), while the Levites fulfill the lesser functions of
the priesthood (Eze. 44:10-14).

The
primary passage in the Bible which supposedly supports
the concept of a triune God - "For there are three
that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there
are three that bear witness in earth..." (I
John 5:7-8) - never appeared in any Greek manuscripts
before the 16th century. This passage first appeared as a
marginal comment in some Latin manuscripts and later was
added into the text.

The
Feast of Trumpets is the only Holy Day that is already
upon us by the time that we know for certain that it has
begun. In keeping with the idea behind the day, we must
therefore be prepared and watch for the
new moon that signals the beginning of this Feast, lest
we be taken unawares by its arrival.

The
word translated "pale" in Rev. 6:8 is "chloros",
which means "green".

Homosexuality
is condemned both in the Old Testament (Lev. 18:22 &
20:13; Deut 23:17; II Ki. 23:7, etc.) and the New
Testament (Rom. 1:26 & 27; I Cor. 6:9; I Tim. 1:10).
Active homosexuality is rebellion against God's word;
claiming to know and obey God's will while practicing
such a lifestyle is rebellion against God Himself.

The
Day of Atonement is an interactive event, with us
suffering hunger pangs throughout the day and faithfully
enduring as the day goes on, and our Father noting each
pang, our faithful endurance, and the obedience to His
will which leads us to keep the day in the first place.

The
first occurrence of the proper name Yahweh occurs in
Genesis 2:4 - the entire Creation Hymn is couched only in
terms of the plural noun "elohim".

Lev.
20:13 - "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth
with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination:
they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be
upon them" - is perfectly mirrored in Rom. 1:26
& 27 - "For this cause God gave them up unto
vile affections: for even their women did change the
natural use into that which is against nature: and
likewise also men, leaving the natural use of the woman,
burned in their lust one toward another; men with men
working that which is unseemly, and receiving in
themselves that recompense of their error which was meet
(appropriate)."

Yahshua
cleared the Temple twice during His ministry: once at the
beginning (John 2:11-17), and once at the end (Matt. 21:12-13;
Mark 11:15-17; Luke 19:45-46).

Yahshua's
definition of marriage is this: "...Have ye not read,
that He which made them at the beginning made them male
and female, and said, 'For this cause shall a man
leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife:
and they two shall become one flesh?'" (Matt. 19:4
& 5; Mark 10:6-8)

There
are four women included in Yahshua's genealogy in Matthew:
Thamar, Rachab, Ruth, and Bathsheba, though Bathsheba is
not mentioned by name.

Our
calling is not "eye for eye", "tooth for
tooth", "stroke for stroke", or "life
for life". Our existence as individuals and as a
nation is not defined by our ability to take vengeance:
Yahweh says, "To Me belongeth
vengeance, and recompense." Rather, our calling and
existence is defined by this: "But I say unto you,
That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee
on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also...Give to
him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of
thee turn not thou away...Love your enemies, bless them
that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray
for them which despitefully use you and persecute you; That
ye may be the sons of your Father which is in heaven."

In
Rev. 6:5, the reference to "a pair of balances"
comes from Strong's number 2218 - "zugos" -
which is the same word translated as "yoke" in
Matt. 11:29 & 30; Acts 15:10; Gal. 5:1; and 1 Tim. 6:1.

The
word translated "martyr(s)" - Strong's #3144 -
in Acts 22:20, Rev. 2:13, and Rev. 17:6 literally means
"a witness" or "witnesses" (as in one
witnessing an event and therefore able to testify to it),
and is translated as such in the KJV everywhere else
except 2 Cor. 1:23 and Phil. 1:8, where it is translated
"record".

Although
Yahshua pre-existed as God and was our Creator, it was
absolutely imperative that He give up that existence as
God and become a human being in order to offer salvation
to mankind. Why? Because we know that our salvation is
based on the shed blood of the Messiah (Eph. 2:13; Heb. 9:13-14;
1 Peter 1:18-20; 1 John 1:7; Rev. 1:5), and that only
physical beings can shed blood. God is spirit (John 4:24),
and a spirit being has no blood to shed. If Yahshua had
remained God and not become flesh and blood, there would
have been no blood worthy enough to shed for the
salvation of mankind.

Think about
it.

"Then they that feared
Yahweh spake often one to another: and Yahweh hearkened, and
heard [it], and a book of remembrance was written before Him
for them that feared Yahweh, and that thought upon His name.

"And they shall be Mine,
saith Yahweh of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels;
and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that
serveth Him."

(Malachi 3:16-17)

In loving memory of Jeannine Touchton:
mother, sister, wife, minister, and devoted son of God: